Otezla: Uses, How It Works, and Common Side Effects

Otezla tablets are a prescription medicine used to treat plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and mouth ulcers in Behçet's disease in specific patients.

This medicine helps to improve plaque psoriasis for clearer skin, and it helps to reduce inflammation and symptoms such as pain, redness, and swelling in psoriatic arthritis and Behcet's disease.

Otezla is from a class of medications called PDE4 inhibitors.

These medications work by blocking the phosphodiesterase type 4 enzyme, which causes an increase in the level of cyclic adenosine monophosphate, a messenger involved in cell signaling in our bodies.

Otezla is not a biologic agent.

When starting this medicine, the dose is slowly increased over several days until you reach the maintenance dose, which is usually one tablet twice a day.

The most common side effects are nausea, diarrhea, headache, or cold symptoms such as stuffy nose, sneezing, and sore throat, which occur in 5 % or more of patients.

This is not a complete list of side effects, and others may occur.

This material is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Always consult with your healthcare provider.